Shannon-- is there any way you can keep your trip in March? I agree with Saef that you may feel resentment, etc. if you have to postpone it for so long.
Hope the weather improves this weekend for you, Saef, and you can get out and practice walking.
Did I mention earlier in the week that I had a thief in the library this week? It's been interesting trying to get the two girls involved to admit one iota of blame. Wonder what kind of parenting they have at home? They are both assigned to help me today during their recesses and they have very poor attitudes about it. I love how seriously my Vice Principal has taken the situation. I just wish I thought the girls are learning a lesson. They're in 5th grade so you certainly don't want them going to middle school thinking theft is no big deal and they can get away with it.
Last edited by traveling michele; 02-27-2015 at 10:33 AM.
No, Michele, I don't remember hearing about a thief! Did the girls steal library materials, like DVDs? Or did they go into someone's purse or backpack? I'd find both actions reprehensible, but the second would also make it personal, and even more of a violation.
I hear the word "entitlement" thrown around a lot, but I prefer the term "exemption." I'm more used to seeing people who believe that, unlike others around them, they get a pass -- they're exempt -- from having to follow the same rules that others do. Whether it's traffic, or queuing up in a line, waiting their turn, or paying for parking, etc. There's always some good reason that they get to claim an exemption. I'm fascinated by this, see it more in greater NY area than Upstate, but of course, it happens everywhere.
I showed a new book to their class earlier in the week. I was very clear that it wasn't yet available in the library but it would be soon. After their class left, I couldn't find the book and I remembered one girl looking at it. After contacting their teacher and getting the VP involved, the book was found in another girl's desk. The two girls blamed each other. The one caught with it said the other one gave it to her and she "assumed" it was checked out-- knowing full well that it couldn't be. The main issue after the fact was that neither girl would take any blame nor show any remorse. They acted like we were making a big deal about nothing. When the VP told them yesterday they would be helping me in the library during their recesses today, they balked-- why should we? We're not mad at each other anymore. They're here now serving their first recess punishment. I'll have to wait till after their lunch recess before I can eat my lunch so I hope they are productive. The girl who took the book isn't allowed to check books out because she lost a book last year and has never taken care of it-- out of more than 1,000 students at my school, she is the only one with an outstanding book from last year. I send emails home weekly, have sent multiple notes, and they still haven't taken care of it. When VP called home about the theft incident, she mentioned that the girl had a lost library book and the mom claimed she had no idea. Seriously?!
Many, many, many of our students feel very entitled.... we have a large population of Indian and Asian families. Not to stereotype because many of them are wonderful, but quite a few of the Indian families think their first born child (especially if a boy) can do no wrong. The cultural differences are quite interesting to watch.
saef, are there malls anywhere nearby? The indoor kind? I know you probably don't ever go to a mall, but they are great places to go walking when the weather outside isn't right.
Plus, you could go with your mom, arrange to meet at a particular location at a particular time, and both have a short outing that way.
Hey, all. I don't have much to add this week - work has been challenging and I've been tired. But I'm wishing all Mon-Fri workers a great weekend. Those of you who already have a never-ending weekend, I envy you and hope all your days are good.
May everyone's sleep be deep and appetite be small.
Hey, all. I don't have much to add this week - work has been challenging and I've been tired. But I'm wishing all Mon-Fri workers a great weekend. Those of you who already have a never-ending weekend, I envy you and hope all your days are good.
May everyone's sleep be deep and appetite be small.
That should be our motto!
Off to Napa today and I know my appetite won't be small!
I went to bed last night with a swollen leg, then woke up on Saturday morning with a body so stiff, achy and weak, it felt like I'd had a major setback in the night. You know how you feel sore the next day after a workout? That is how sore I feel in my feet, ankles and legs just from attempting normal day-to-day actions like descending stairs. This time it went all the way up to my butt and the small of my back. On mornings like this, it's so hard to be pleased at how far I've come because all I can see and feel is how far I have yet to go to regain normal functions.
Let's see what I can make of this Saturday. There are so many things I want to do, but I don't know if my body -- or my mother -- is up to doing them.
Brainiac credit for me - I just finished my 7 week course on the history of the Rolling Stones 1964-72 and I got perfect scores on all 3 quizzes and the final exam. First time in my life I've done that. Admittedly it was a stroll down memory lane as I was a fanatic about them for awhile back then but still I'm very pleased with myself!
saef, it's natural to want everything just to be "normal" again. But measure yourself against that moment when you were lying on the pavement waiting for the ambulance, not by your ideal normal. You have made amazing progress, and you will continue.
Dagmar, that sounds like fun, and you're making me wish I still had my vintage copy of "Sticky Fingers" with the zipper embedded in the Warhol-designed cover. Don't know where it went to. Maybe to a used record store, when I needed cash. Would you take another such course like that?
Quote:
Originally Posted by JayEll
saef, it's natural to want everything just to be "normal" again. But measure yourself against that moment when you were lying on the pavement waiting for the ambulance, not by your ideal normal. You have made amazing progress, and you will continue.
Jay, my progress never feels "amazing," it always feels like I haven't done enough, that I could be doing more, and if I did, I'd be further along. Today I felt much less stiff in the morning, even though I had a very thorough exercise session at the gym yesterday and walked through two stores with my mother afterward. My body may be waking up and starting to re-adapt.
Today, I'm restless. My mother took me to the gym early, and I'm back, after a decent session in which I pedaled on the recumbent bike for a full 30 minutes. But all I can think about is getting out & about into the world again, which we probably won't do, and for the silliest reason -- parking!
My apartment complex has temporarily lost a lot of parking spaces to the construction site & staging area for the much-needed flood wall. In addition, there are mounds of unmelted snow and ice everywhere, which further narrows the driveways and parking areas. This has led to a Darwinian competition for parking spaces among residents and their visitors. My mother, who's lived out in a rural area for decades, dislikes parallel parking, particularly in tight spaces, and has become almost obsessed with the fear of not finding parking after going out. It makes her stay in more than she normally would, particularly with today's forecasted snow storm -- and today it's keeping me house-bound.
I want to walk around two stores again -- I want to get a spa pedicure at my usual nail salon -- and instead I'm stuck with the Internet and the fat Sunday Times.
Went to the wine/beer/music festival yesterday and had a great time. The music was just so-so and we ended up leaving early. Was home and in bed by 11:15. Got up at 6 AM to feed the animals and went back to bed. No sun came up today and we were surprised to see that we'd slept in until 7:45! It had started raining at about that time and that woke me up as we have the windows open. Four hours later it is still raining for which I am quite grateful. We really need the rain here in California, but it is wreaking havoc in areas--I heard there was a mudslide on the Pacific Coast Highway.
Do your PT and doc agree that you should be doing more?
I felt I needed to reply to this before commencing the new week.
My goal is to be honest as possible in my posts here, even if it sounds pathetic and is not showing me within a flattering light. Because I think part of my great big complex problem with concerns about my weight has to do with how I appear to others, whether I am acceptable, whether I am putting up a good "front" and meeting standards for the American middle-class professional female. Therefore, I have to let down the facade when I post, or I'll never make it or get any better at coping.
No, I think I have higher standards for myself than the doctor and the physical therapist.
The doctor sees only the bone in the x-rays and how it is healing. He's like an engineer, only of the human body. To him it's a structural failure and it has to be reinforced and fixed. He's quite the opposite of a holistic healer.
The physical therapists are exposed every day to elderly women, many of them quite fragile, with a long history of being physically inactive. Their standards are simple and functional.
I always wanted to be more than that -- I have this pressure to be "above average" which means beyond simply functional.
And I have this memory of myself in early November, just a few weeks out from having completed New Rules of Lifting for Women, and I want to get back to how I was then.
Just back from the Jean Michel Basquiat exhibit. Interesting stuff mixed with some "filler" aka caca IMHO. Lots to look at in most of his big "paintings". The guy could really draw as seen in some small very detailed pencil works that never make it into the brochures.
Since he was a graffiti tagger originally that was very much on my mind and I viewed the pieces in that light. I will go back and take a second look if I get a chance.
